Silver Line Dulles WMATA Metrorail progress/pictures

[Backshophoss]

Kept a few 5K sets active enough for test service,instead of taking a set of 7K's needed for passenger service.
Who would care if a %K set gets beat up during testing.

[daybeers]

Big yikes for y'all down there. I lived in D.C. as a college student for two years, and while I loved the public transportation system overall, it's still WMATA. Yes yes I know, MWAA is building it, but still...it's a WMATA project and there could be oversight.

I do hope to be at the opening though! The biggest mileage increase since original opening in 1976, plus I missed Phase I of the Silver Line. Hoping it will be next summer but not getting my hopes up too high.

[YOLO]

Test trains are running thru the tracks, saw 3084-3085 running outside of Herndon-Monroe station

I believe they have a 5K train set running out by the yard/airport area too

[Sand Box John]

"Backshophoss"
Kept a few 5K sets active enough for test service,instead of taking a set of 7K's needed for passenger service.
Who would care if a %K set gets beat up during testing.

Using them for testing will not be nearly as strenuous as running them from one end of a line to the other all day. They will spend most of their time stopped waiting for the go command of the next test run.

"daybeers"
The biggest mileage increase since original opening in 1976, plus I missed Phase I of the Silver Line. Hoping it will be next summer but not getting my hopes up too high.

The 12 mile, 18 station Blue line segment between National Airport and Stadium - Armory that opened on 07 01 1977 was the longest segment.

[Sand Box John]

Another setback:

Construction on Silver Line extension hits a new snag
06 13 2019 4:32 AM
Max Smith
WTOP 103.5 FM

[gprimr1]

Is there a pocket track where the Silver Line splits from the Orange Line? I rode it to the airport (via shuttle bus) last Saturday and I noticed that as the Silver Line tracks come down off the bridges, a middle track drops down under the concrete.

[YOLO]

those are the regular orange line tracks...

[perfbill]

Is there a pocket track where the Silver Line splits from the Orange Line? I rode it to the airport (via shuttle bus) last Saturday and I noticed that as the Silver Line tracks come down off the bridges, a middle track drops down under the concrete.

Actually, this is a connector line from Silver to Orange forming a wye for transfer of trains to the westbound tracks, and not for revenue service. Otherwise, they would have to go down to East Falls Church and do the full transfer on the east side of that platform. There is a similar connector on the westbound tracks between McPherson Square and Farragut West on the S/B/O line that connects directly to the otherwise isolated Red Line.

[Sand Box John]

"gprimr1"
Is there a pocket track where the Silver Line splits from the Orange Line? I rode it to the airport (via shuttle bus) last Saturday and I noticed that as the Silver Line tracks come down off the bridges, a middle track drops down under the concrete.

See track map, Download and view in your favorite graphics viewer.

FYI all, This version has the latest revisions.

[YOLO]

Aerial view footage from NBC/Adam Tuss: https://twitter.com/AdamTuss/status/1153411044691382272

[NaugyRR]

Once the Silver Line is complete, would I be able to walk to the big air museum from the Metro?

In the past I've made day trips down on Amtrak and taken it to the smaller museum on the National Mall, but obviously that's a bit easier to do from Union Station.

In the future I'd like to do an overnight in DC and visit the big air museum with as little bus/taxi/road travel as possible.

[farecard]

Not really.

But there is a bus now from a Silver Line station, I just can't recall which one.
I've taken it because it was a weekend and parking there was free.

[afiggatt]

Once the Silver Line is complete, would I be able to walk to the big air museum from the Metro?

In the past I've made day trips down on Amtrak and taken it to the smaller museum on the National Mall, but obviously that's a bit easier to do from Union Station.

In the future I'd like to do an overnight in DC and visit the big air museum with as little bus/taxi/road travel as possible.

Walking from the Dulles Airport Metro station to the Udvar Hazy Center would be a challenge. Checking the map, it is 3.1 miles in a straight line from the Dulles metro station to the center and that line runs through the terminal complex and across a runway. With all the secure areas at the airport, not going to get there that way. I guess one in theory could walk or bike from the station to Rt. 28 and then south from there, but I suspect much of the route lacks sidewalks or viable walkways.

However, as already noted, there is a Fairfax County Connnector 981/983 Bus that runs between the Wiehle Avenue - Reston East metro station to the airport which during the day stops at the Udvar Hazy Center as bus 983. Info about it on the Air & Space website: https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/museum ... -locations. Link to the PDF schedule which has not changed since January, 2015: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector ... 15_web.pdf. The Fairfax Connector takes Smartrip cards for payment.

Don't know what the plan is for bus and Udvar-Hazy connections when Phase 2 opens. I expect the plan is for a shuttle bus between the Dulles metro station and the Udvar-Hazy center, but who would operate it & what the fare would be, don't recall seeing anything about it.

[Sand Box John]

Tentative opening date announced.

"The Silver Line to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County, Virginia, will open on or about July 16, 2020, at least if everything goes according to plan from here on out, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said."

First potential opening date set for Silver Line into Loudoun County
08 05 2019 1657
Max Smith
WTOP FM 103.5

If anybody wants to bet on the exact date, the date I am taking for the betting pool is 07 25 2020 as that date is 6 years minus a day after the opening of Phase I.

[gokeefe]

I think they will open on a Saturday so they have a cushion of one day before full weekday operations on a Monday.

07 18 2020